Dawn of Age
by Ophium
Summary: Coda to episode 6.05. Contains spoilers from that episode, mature themes and language. Complete.


**Dawn of Age**

After living for certain number of centuries, some things have a tendency to become superfluous. Unnecessary. Prone to manipulation. Bendable.

Time is but one of them.

What has just happened a minute ago is the same that is bound to happen five centuries from now; what has happened five centuries ago is the same as the past minute. When you have been around for long enough, you can see them all as simultaneous events, back and forth, like an old movie reel. Now is only now until the moment you realize it is over and it becomes then.

He was old. Not as old as Death itself, but old enough to know Death by name and still not fear it. He was old and he was tired of waiting in the dark for a chance to walk in the light. Unlike all others that had come after him, _from_ him, he had not been changed into what he now was. He had been born that way. A disease; a curse; a larger and better step in human evolution than what Darwin could ever imagine.

A vampire.

Since he was born, he had been named many different things; but names, like time, are easy to manipulate. For now, you may call him Age.

Age stood and watched as events unfolded as they were supposed to unfold and, in a split vision that only those of his power were capable of, he watched as events could unfold.

He watched in the corners of his mind as the hunters Sam and Dean split up and chased after two vampires. The first choice was left up to chance.

Sam Winchester pursues the one who was truly Age's child, Dean runs after a mere imposter. That path ends with his child dead and Boris collecting a new recruiter for his lair.

Age watches as time folds on itself and the same events happen in reverse; chance rolls its dice and the hunters switch. This time, it is Sam who follows the fake and Dean who kills Age's soldier.

Age decides to watch that possibility unfold for a couple of minutes; watches Sam catching Boris's eye, watches as his servant turns the taller hunter into a vampire. Sam knows about Age, knows about how old he is and how elusive it is to catch him. And he is too curious about Age's methods and powers.

Turning Sam, a hunter with far more insight and knowledge than most, into one of them is risky, far too risky at this point in his plans.

So Age stands and watches as things proceed as they should. Sam kills his child; Dean becomes his child.

Boris, base creature of lust that he is, could not resist the lure of one more worm for his collection of pretty worms. From the moment Dean stepped into that alley, his fate was sealed.

Age watches and does nothing. He is fascinated by the fact that Sam does exactly the same. He could've stepped in when Sam did not, ordered Boris to not take this one, to pick another.

Dean instead of Sam, but a hunter non the less. The risks of turning a hunter into one of them are always high and almost never profitable. But the mind of this new addition to his children fascinates Age so he allows it to happen. He learns that his name is Dean, and that his soul tastes almost as old as Age himself. To enter it and study such a novelty is to travel from the pits of Hell to the gardens of Eden itself. Age is curious to learn more about his newest child.

Age waits patiently until Dean makes his way back into the nest. He could've stepped in, forced his new child to feed, finalize Dean's crossing into Age's kind. He watches that too unfold, the _what could have been_ if he had thrown Dean into the path of some junkie who had just shot up his last fix and laid abandoned on the street, tripping out of his gourd, bloody trail dripping from where he let the over-used syringe rip his skin open. Age watches as Dean smells the blood and walks closer and closer until the calling red cells are all that he can hear. And he drinks. He feeds. He kills. He completes his transformation. His birth.

Age sees what a magnificent vampire Dean could come to be, more powerful and ruthless than Boris himself; how easily one with such charisma could take over Boris' lair and double the number of new children that Boris was getting him.

But Age knew that would never happen. He couldn't afford to have a vampire with a soul in his ranks.

So, Age does not push Dean into feeding. Instead, he watches and marvels at the restraint his new child demonstrates by stepping away from his lover's blood, to see how strongly Dean abstains to breathe the new type of air he now needs to survive in order to save the woman he shares a bed with.

Boris does not share Dean's restraint. Never has; not for blood, not for power, not for control, or anything he desires, and it's clear what he desires now. Boris had been turned on by this new addition since the moment he had pressed Dean to that garbage can and forced him to join their ranks. Boris always gets what he needs.

Age could see how everything would change after that. Could see how Boris' blind rage would turn everything to dust. How everything would be lost.

Stretching time and forcing it to show him what comes next, Age watches as Dean foolishly insinuates himself to the older vampire, hoping to get him alone and procure the blood he so desperately needs to go back to his lesser, feeble, human form. Had he been well fed, his mind at rest without the turmoil of depressing feelings and ideas that currently flow inside him, Dean would've succeeded. Boris would've foolishly taken him to his private room, closed the door and told everyone that he was not to be disturbed until he finished 'sampling' the new recruit. He had done it before; he would do it again. Time rarely brought many changes. Boris would've died then.

But Dean is not at rest, he's not well fed; he is starving and weak, and he is anxious; instead of being focused on the present, his mind is already occupied with the odds of workability this cure he was promised might have. He makes a mistake, as he was bound to do.

Age watches as a single drop of blood falls on the floor, the only warning Boris needs to know that there is more than meets the eye with his new recruit. The fight is short, a mammoth versus a worm, and Dean loses.

Boris doesn't drag him to his private room then; he's out for revenge, he wants to show the rest of the nest what happens when someone defies him.

He pushes Dean to the dirty floor and takes him right there, shows Dean the kind of fire that he was playing with.

Dean fights him, of course, but he has as much chance of winning as the worm has against the mammoth.

"No... please," Dean says when the undeniable truth sets in all its gory detail and he finds himself helpless, trapped as the central actor in a play of which he already knows the ending. His eyes are bloodshot and everything is tinged with a red veil that does nothing to hide the satisfaction and excitement of all the vampires watching his defeat.

Boris is brutal and he takes his time, patient in his barbarity in ways he never is with anything else. Pain fuels him, blood feeds him and Dean provides him with both for hours.

When Boris finally grows bored of his new chew toy, Dean lays naked and broken in the central square of the nest, a cautionary tale for all of those that came before and the ones who'll come next. No one will defy Boris again for a very long time.

Drinking the blood of another vampire is not something that is encouraged by the rules that Age has set for his children; it is a wasting filth, barely above dead man's blood.

Age watches as Boris, having quenched his hunger for pain and sex, calls to his nest brothers and allows them to feed freely on the new-born vampire. Age can feel as well as see the blood rush, the lusty hunger that possesses his children as they are allowed to feed unrestrained. Dean is not human; he will not die no matter how much they take.

Only when he's torn beyond recognition and no longer of any use to Boris, does he kill Dean. A lazy, sloppy, amateur chop of the head that takes as many as five tries.

Dean's last breath is a feral broadcast to both Heaven and Hell. An old soul; Age had known that even if he'd never shared that knowledge with Boris and the others. An old soul with even older friends.

The vengeance from Heaven arrives swift and in the form of a previous fallen angel, now reinstated in his grace. His earthly allegiances not forgotten, a single angel is enough to wipe from existence every single one of Age's children from that nest and every other that he can find.

It is a future where too many of his children are lost and his plans fail. Age cannot allow that to happen.

Time folds on itself again. Every possibility lays open before Age. He can chose now.

Age is back at the beginning, time recoiling like it's a rubber band. He sees the alley and all the choices made so far; it is Dean who chases after a fake vampire and who catches Boris' eye; the junkie never becomes Dean's first meal; and he still chooses to play into Boris most basic hungers.

Age watches as Dean slips his hands into his pocket and takes out the syringe filled with dead man's blood; he watches as Boris hears the blood drop hit the ground; he watches Dean lose the battle with a stronger vampire.

And then Age steps in and stops the future from happening by chosing that moment to _speak_ with his children. He gives Dean a little insight to his plans, just enough to scare him, and he takes his hunger away, allowing for Dean's focus to return. It will be enough to ensure his survival, even if none of Age's children in that nest will live on to tell the tale.

Besides, Age was growing tired of Boris anyway.

The end.

* * *

AN: Many thank yous and hugs to Jackfan2, for her -once again- awesome imput and beta-work. If you've stumbled on any mistakes... they're mine- giv'em back!


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